By 3 News online staff
Rupert Murdoch's empire is expected to be about to split into two separate entities.
The decision will separate the publishing unit from the lucrative entertainment division.
It's a move which comes in the wake of the company's phone hacking scandal in the UK and AUT media lecturer Dr Wayne Hope told Firstline this morning the decision is both politically and economically motivated.
“The New York Post, The London Times, they’re losing money, the Wall Street Journal’s losing money and he’s facing the same problems with new technologies and recessions, so he wants to separate that off from the entertainment side,” Mr Hope says.
On the show he also discussed yesterday’s ruling by a New Zealand High Court judge that the police raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion was illegal.
“This is a defeat for the film industry and the music industry in the United States who are driving this,” he told Firstline.
“The old media have had a real hit here, and I don’t think the case is going to proceed very smoothly at all,” he says.
3 News